THOUGHTS ON THE TOPIC OF LABOR FROM THE BOOK OF WISDOM

My wife and I have entered a time of “industry”. By that I mean we have a few irons in the fire, and one of those irons includes developing a property to retire to. A few years back, we picked up a piece of land with a cabin on it, and have been in the process of building the site into a working homestead.

I would like to emphasize the term working, for this property, with all the dreams we have for it, has become a work project my wife and I have gladly taken on.

Whether it be 116 degree heat index while working outside – yes when my wifey told me that, we went inside immediately, or the continual battling with completing sub projects on the weekends, I have come to cling to a few verses in Proverbs that speak of the importance of labor.

I suppose my favorite Proverb in relation to our project is Proverbs 14:23

Proverbs 14:23 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

You know, I met a fella lately that talks talks talks. He repeats a message multiple times (in the same discussion), as if we didn’t hear or understand the first three times he spoke of it.

He is a young fella, and I have just met him, so my estimation may be completely unjustified, but he is a talker. Now when I say he is a talker, I am speaking of my first impression, the dominant impression that I come away with when I visit with him. He is a talker. Talk talk talk.

I suppose this desire to talk talk talk may be a sign of insecurity, or a nervousness of “being in the quiet”, or a need to own a running monologue, control the discussion, hear his own voice. I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter in this discussion other than his life, from what I have observed, is tending to poverty.

I want the best for him, and hope I am wrong in my estimations, yet there tends to be a pattern, a trend that seems to be evident. A poverty, and I am not necessarily speaking only of financial assets, but of a general poverty in his life and relations.

And the Scripture speaks of the poverty of the talker! We would do well to consider.

One additional verse that motivates me in the midst of all the projects at our home is that many of the projects are in varying degrees of progress. The work site sometimes appears unsightly or unorganized. If it wasn’t for my wife continually helping in managing the site, it would appear catastrophic.

But a clean worksite, completely orderly and without some “mess” is not a producing worksite.

Proverbs 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

I am not advocating for a unsafe worksite – don’t get me wrong – but for projects to get done, there has to be a messy manger!

This passage also should hang over my desk at work. It does become a “massy manger” at times.

Let me ask you a question. How important is labor in your Christian life? Do you see any benefits of taking on projects to gain a tenacity in life, to take on challenges that are beyond you, knowing you have a Father in heaven who provides health and strength for the work?

Thoughts to consider. But I gotta leave now, for I have some drain pipe to bury on the site! 

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